President Obama’s pre-passover trip to Israel — his first as president of the United States — will be kosher for Passover.
The King David Hotel is pushing forward its Passover production schedule to accomodate President Obama’s first visit to Israel while in office. Haaretz blogger Ilene Prusher writes:
The entire King David Hotel, where he’ll be staying with an entourage that will fill all 233 rooms from Wednesday March 20 to Friday March 22, will be made kosher for Passover (Pesach) ahead of his visit…
“We’re used to hosting heads of state and also American presidents, but this situation is very special for us because it’s so close to Pesach,” says hotel manager Dror Danino. “For us it will be double the preparations.”
In 1975, after Henry Kissinger’s failed diplomatic mission to broker peace between Israel and Egypt, the secretary of state and his entourage packed their bags early.
On Mar. 25, 1975. two weeks before Passover, the King David Hotel took out newspaper ads in Israel explaining that "due to the early departure of a press group that accompanied Dr. Kissinger there are still a few rooms available for the seder night and the rest of the holiday."
If the Ford or Obama administrations thought Middle East diplomacy was a stubborn process, they ought to try a matzah-based diet for a few days.
